Sugar Snow is a band with their own special flavor

It’s nice to listen to a band who can get their message across without relying on a lot of hard-charging sounds. Sugar Snow artistically architect their songs so they get a lot of sound and fullness without hitting the listener over the head with a bunch of loud chords and notes. A confident grace marks all of the nine tracks Sugar Snow have put down here on their debut CD.

“Ready To Go” opens the disc with front woman Simone Berk coaxing the song and band forward with her soft yet plaintive and assertive vocal. Berk leads the sweetened lead guitar melody with a singer-songwriter sensibility. She presents the material like an artist in a listening room or coffee shop. The players around her envelop it in other worldly sounds capes in which the listener will strain to find obvious influences. This is simply a unique band with a sound all their own.

Berk’s ethereal pop vocal on “Lowest Part Of Your Heart” carries through in this dream like quality narrative. The rest of Sugar Snow’s personnel, guitarist Dan Wolf, bassist-singer Joe Twomey, and drummer Lennie Chasse, conjure an almost swaying sensation in their music. Wolf pays out a gently picked one-note-at-a-time melody that, doing more with less, expands this surreal sound. it’s the way the whole band functions around the beat of the song that make it come alive in its sublime approach.

“Riven” is driven by a persistent interval of guitar notes and Wolf’s simple approach leaves open a wide space for Berk to emote with understated beauty. She has just enough edge in her timbre to rise to the surface of this hip, mid-tempo rocker. Her voice and the music resonate on a level that is hard to define but remains clearly present.

Wolf’s rugged guitar lines in the breezy “Half-Closed Eyes” move the song forward with an authentic honky tonk flare. The guitarist builds upon his opening phrases through to the end of the song, giving this a sweeping arc that beckons listeners with its sense of largeness. Berk takes her time laying out her grievances in her soft, lilting vocal that reaches the listener without ever having to become a belt.

Berk resumes her sublime vocal technique on “Prettiest Middle Of Nowhere.” She is hauntingly appealing. Persistently strong guitar chords and a subtle bass bop give Berk the perfect foil to sing around. The band also alters their sound considerably with only minor touches. When she and Twomey hit a harmony line, the band reaches a whole new artistic height.

“Stay With Me” gets a greasy lead guitar job from Wolf. The guitarist keeps the sliding psychedelic melody just on this side of controlled. He is like a scientist moving his notes around like an amoeba in a petri dish, getting a thick wad of sound to respond the way he wants it to. Berk oozes alternative rocker girl charm. She has something to say, and with a sexy whisper, she softly blows it into your ear.

“Blurred” continues more of Berk’s silky smooth vocalizing over airy soundscapes. Bass player Joe Twomey anchors all of the open space above him with a low end line as smooth as Berk’s voice. The full-bodied feeling he brings to this band is irreplaceable. “The Word Yes” rolls forward on a nimbly picked guitar melody supporting Berk’s ethereal vocal melody. The dual melody has a chilling affect on the listener. Berk builds a solid arc without losing her gentle tone, making you wonder how she developed her almost supernatural sense of dynamics.

Sugar Snow close out the disc with a sadly unfolding tale of a failed relationship. Titled “Drag Marks In The Dust,” it uses an image of the drag marks left behind when a former lover removed belongings from a place they previously shared. Berk’s forlorn vocal puts across this and other unhappy images with an indelible stamp. The acoustic guitar, too, makes you feel what the songwriter was feeling when writing this piece about the emptiness one feels after an unhappy ending.

Sugar Snow are a truly artistic and expressive band. Look for many intriguing things to come from these four.

www.sugarsnowmusic.com

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